The appointment of Howard Stringer as CEO of Sony possibly represents the most important turning point for the company since the introduction of the Walkman. And speaking of portable devices, Stringer had this to say about Apple's iPod, which has stolen the portability spotlight from Sony: "iPod was like a hanging. It concentrates the mind wonderfully." (From a Business Week interview.)

Most observers would say that the conflicting agendas of Sony's technology (playback devices) and content (label and artists) have held back the company more than any other factor, creating bizarre scenarios such as digital music players that could not play MP3s as recently as 2004. Stringer vows that those days are over, and that interoperability is the watchword, and that Sony "gets it" now, and that all divisions within the company love each other, and that the "all for one" umbrella is in place. "The range of cooperation of representatives of content and hardware has gathered great momentum. There's no longer resistance to content participating in everything."

For Sony to get its cool back, it must climb a steep competitive hill leading to the envied plateau upon which Apple is perched. It is not pure circuit engineering that gave Apple its marketshare. It is not even the smooth symmetry between software and hardware, between online service and consumer device. It is the understanding that function is lifestyle, and lifestyle is function. It is Apple's humanity that people relate to. So, yes, Sony should rip down the awful Connect service and burn its MP3-less players. But creating a decent download store and new players with buttons in the right places won't be enough. Sony must somehow invent and sell a new functional lifestyle if the company is to draw even with Apple.